Facebook quarterly profit jumps 79% on improved mobile ad revenue

Facebook Inc reported a 79 per cent jump in profit on Wednesday as it pushed further into video advertising in a quarter that was dominated by reports that Russia allegedly used the social network to meddle in the 2016 US elections.

Facebook's total advertising revenue rose 49 per cent in the third quarter to $10.14 billion, about 88 per cent of which came from mobile ads.

Analysts on average had expected total ad revenue of $9.71 billion, according to data and analytics firm FactSet.

Net income rose to $4.71 billion, or $1.59 per share, from $2.63 billion, or 90 cents per share.

 

Total revenue increased 47.3 per cent to $10.33 billion.

Facebook is at the centre of a political firestorm in the United States for the ways it handles paid political ads and allows the spread of false news stories. US lawmakers have threatened tougher regulation and fired questions at Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch in hearings this week.

Facebook, in a series of disclosures over two months, has said that people in Russia bought at least 3,000 US political ads and published another 80,000 Facebook posts that were seen by as many as 126 million Americans over two years. Russia denies any meddling.

The company did not make any reference to the matter in its statement.